Sounding the Word of God - Conway Lectures in Medieval Studies by Susan Rankin Hardcover

About the Book

Between 800 and 900 a new convention entered musical practice: by the end of the century the recording of musical sound using newly-invented music scripts had become standard, the meanings of those scripts familiar to many. In the history of European music this was a momentous transformation, offering new possibilities of organization and control. But the change was not accomplished quickly, nor were singers who read from books without musical notations entirely without written guidance. In Sounding the Word of God, those ways in which Carolingian scribes made instructions for readers and singers visible through script, and consequent changes in the material culture represented by books, are explored. From books of the late eighth and early ninth centuries in which chant was codified in a manner that relied heavily on unwritten knowledge, Rankin traces a path to books that attempted to record aspects of the delivery of ecclesiastical chant more thoroughly.

Book Synopsis

Drawing on a wide context of bookmaking, this sweeping study traces fundamental changes in books made to support musical practice during the Carolingian Renaissance.

During the late eighth and ninth centuries, there were dramatic changes in the way European medieval scribes made books for singers, moving from heavy reliance on unwritten knowledge to the introduction of musical notation into manuscripts. Well-made liturgical books were vital to the success of the Carolingian fight for Christian salvation: these were the basis for carrying out worship correctly, rendering it most effective in petitions to the Christian God. In Sounding the Word of God, Susan Rankin explores Carolingian concern with the expression and control of sound in writing--discernible through instructions for readers and singers visible in liturgical books. Her central focus is on books made for singers, including those made for priests. The emergence of musical notations for ecclesiastical chant and of books designed to accommodate those notations, Rankin concludes, are important aspects of the impact of Carolingian reforming zeal on material culture.

The book has three sections. Part 1 considers late antique and early medieval texts, which deal with the value of singing and its necessary regulation. Part 2 describes and investigates techniques used by Carolingian scribes to provide instructions for readers and singers. The extant books themselves are the focus of part 3. Rankin's analysis of over two hundred manuscripts and extensive supporting images represents the work of a scholar who has spent a lifetime with the sources; her explication of the images, particularly those of the earlier manuscripts, changes the way in which musicologists and liturgical scholars will view the images. Indeed, it will change the way in which they approach the unfolding history of chant and liturgy in the Carolingian period.

Review Quotes

"Susan Rankin has for decades reflected on the relations between the visible signs on the page and musical sound. This book boldly steps in a new direction in several fields of study: palaeography, history of the book, history of liturgy, music history, art history, and the broad history of the eighth and ninth centuries." --Calvin M. Bower, translator of Fundamentals of Music

About the Author

Susan Rankin is emeritus professor of medieval music at the University of Cambridge and Vice-Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. She is the author and co-editor of a number of books, including Writing Sounds in Carolingian Europe: The Invention of Musical Notation.